And One Time At Glee Camp
by pleasant-hell
Summary: The gleeks all head off to camp for the summer. Santana feels a pull toward Brittany that can't be ignored anymore.
1. Chapter 1

I do not own Glee.

Enjoy.

* * *

It was three weeks into the meager summer vacation they were allotted and Mr. Shue sent out an email to the entire team asking them to meet at a small coffee shop the next day. Everyone showed up because most people were already back from vacation and had entered the section of summer where they were just waiting for school to start again.

Once everyone had greeted each other and asked how everyone's summer went, Mr. Shue stood up. "Alright guys. I've asked you all here because, based on our performance in Regionals, we've been invited to compete in the 6th annual Midwest Fall Show Choir Invitational."

A round of cheers came from the group.

He held up his hand, "Here's the catch. It's the second weekend of school. We'll have to practice during the summer."

Puck commented, "We have football camp starting next week."

Finn, Mike, and Matt nodded in agreement.

"And we have Cheerios Camp," Santana added and glanced at Brittany who was sitting next to her.

"Where will you be?" Mr. Shue asked.

"Ohio Catholic University," Santana stated, "The guys will be there too. We'll be there for two weeks straight."

Mr. Shue's eyebrows furrowed in though, "Who all is going?"

Santana, Brittany, Quinn, Puck, Finn, Mike, and Matt all raised their hands.

The teacher's eyes counted the hands in the air and looked to Santana tell me about this camp.

"For us, it's basically cheerleading boot camp. They wake us up at six in the morning and we practice cheering, conditioning, strength, and dance." She pulled up the website on her phone and handed it to Mr. Shue.

"Do you have any free time?" Mr. Shue asked, scanning the website.

"A few hours in the afternoon and then a few hours after dinner," she shrugged, "Why?"

He ignored her question and looked at Puck, "What about you guys?"

"Get up at six," he said, "Drills, practice, and training all day with the same breaks as the girls."

"It says here that there is a music camp going on at the same time," Mr. Shue handed the cell phone back to Santana. He looked at the group, "Okay, everyone that's not going to football or cheerleading camp, would you be interested in the music camp?"

Everyone for the most part agreed.

"Cheerios and football players," he looked at them, "Would you be willing to practice glee numbers in your free time?"

"No." Santana stated.

"San," Brittany hissed disapprovingly.

Santana rolled her eyes at Brittany's ability to make her cave so quickly, "Fine."

Rachel looked up from her phone which was also on the camp website. "Mr. Shue, how are we going to pay for it? It's four hundred dollars a student. That's two thousand dollars for the remaining five of us. I don't know about them, but I've already spend the majority of my summer allowance when I went with my dads to New York on Broadway memorabilia."

"We did a fundraised in Cheerios to help raise money for it," Brittany offered hopefully.

"What could be do to make two thousand dollars in four days?"

Quinn let out a sly smile and looked at Santana and Brittany, "Remember when we needed to raise the money for the fine Coach Sylvester got for cursing at one of the judges at the International Cheerleading Convention?"

Santana smiled and looked to Brittany who was smiling as well.

It wasn't three hours later that, everyone in the glee club was in their swimsuits, in the parking lot of the coffee shop holding signs up for a car wash.

"I don't see how we're going to make two thousand dollars this way," Mr. Shue told the Cheerios as he hand them the signs.

Santana took one of the signs, "Like this." She sauntered to the road in her bikini, grabbed Brittany and they held up the sign together.

Ten minutes later, the parking lot was packed with cars and they washed them as quickly as possible to keep traffic jams from moving into the road.

"Hey Quinn," Puck called, "Why aren't you out there in a bikini, slutting it up for the good of glee?"

Quinn, who was the only one not in a swimsuit crossed her arms over her tank top, "Because I still don't have my bikini body back."

"Just wait until after cheer camp," he smirked, "Then we'll all see that rockin' bod."

She picked up a nearby bucket and dumped it on his head, "No one is going to see anything. Ever again."

"When did you get back on the Cheerios?" Rachel asked, cautiously, but curiously.

Quinn picked up the water hose to rinse off a car, "Coach Sylvester let me back on under probation. If I screw up it's all over. No more second chances."

"Didn't you hate it?" Rachel furrowed her eyebrows.

Quinn sighed, "Well, the yelling and pain yeah, but I miss the team and the competition."

"There's a team right here," Rachel added moving to the other side of the car.

The blonde just shook her head and resumed rinsing the car off. Rachel didn't understand what being a Cheerio was like.

Santana was crouched by a tire when someone called, "Hey Santana!" She turned around only to be met with a face full of suds and a grinning Brittany. Had it been anyone else, Santana would have ripped their head off. Instead, she tried to hide a smile that was forcing itself onto her face.

Brittany knew that look and started running, weaving in between cars. Santana took off after her, finally catching her in the back corner of the parking lot, wrapping her arms around the blonde's waist.

"Say sorry," Santana tickled Brittany.

The blonde laughed and gasped for breath but still shook her head.

Santana pulled her closer, so that their faces were nearly occupying the same space. The proximity caused Santana's fingers to stop moving and her hands slid to Brittany's hips. Brittany had become eerily quiet as well, just looking at Santana.

If Santana just leaned forward a few centimeters her lips would touch Brittany's in a kiss that was long overdue. So she moved forward just a bit, but froze when someone called Brittany.

The blonde snapped out of whatever trance she was in and looked Santana over, smiling awkwardly, "C'mon. We better get back."

Santana nodded and followed Brittany back to the group. She absentmindedly picked up a sponge and started washing the grime off of a Range Rover. She almost kissed Brittany for the first time in six months. She had been the one to call off their whole secret sleeping together thing when everyone found out. She decided it was too dangerous in a town like this, but lately…lately she'd been regretting that decision. When Brittany would spend the night, it was getting harder and harder to keep her hands to herself especially when they were curled up in bed.

By the time five o'clock had rolled around, everyone was getting ready to call it quits. They were convinced they washed every car in town and all gathered around Mr. Shue for the final total.

"Well guys," he held up a metal cashbox in one hand, "We needed two thousand dollars." He let out a proud grin, "But we made three thousand seven hundred and fifteen dollars. Which means we have enough money for camp and still have some leftover for when school rolls around."

The five gleeks that weren't already going to camp cheered and hugged each other. The other ones just watched, glad that they could help out their teammates and secretly happy that their friends could join them.

"Alright guys," Mr. Shue nodded, "We're going to camp!"


	2. Chapter 2

Mr. Schue walked into the hotel that he was staying in, a block away from where all the kids were staying. He smiled at the receptionist, "Will Schuster."

"Well, well, well," a familiar voice drifted to him that made chills run down his spine, "What are you doing here?"

Will sighed and looked to his right to find Sue Sylvester. "Hello Sue. My kids are at the music camp down the street."

"What a coincidence," she eyed him, putting her hands in the pockets of her red jogging suit. She picked up the key one of the receptionists put on the counter for her. "Have fun in your economy room Will," Sue slung her duffle bag at the nearest bell boy, "I'll be up in my presidential suite with my Jacuzzi bathtub, fireplace, and view of the exotic car dealership across the highway from the top floor. You know why Will? Because I'm a winner. And winners are on top. Don't forget to chase away the rats in the subbasement before you go to sleep. I'm sure they'll be attracted to all of that rancid product you put in your hair. They might mistake it for their nests."

"Goodnight Sue," Will sighed and watched her board the elevator.

The first day of camp, Brittany awoke to the loud screeching of an alarm clock blasted over the intercom at six am. She immediately jumped out of the top bed in the bunk and started getting dress. Her roommate however just slid off of the bottom bunk and slowly started moving around the room.

Brittany was disappointed that they were matching roommate in alphabetical order and not on request. She did like her roommate; she just wished Santana was her roommate. Quinn was a nice enough roommate to have though.

They both walked to their side of the room where a tiny built in closet and dresser was on opposite sides of one wall for each other them. Brittany immediately pulled on her white v-neck shirt and red cotton shorts, the official work out clothes for Cheerio camp. She shook out her hair and ran a brush through it before putting it up. Some light mascara was all that was allowed during the conditioning part of camp so Brittany was ready in no time. Then after a quick trip to the communal bathroom down the hall, Brittany glanced at herself one last time at the mirror on the wall.

She walked out the door with a smile to a grouchy Quinn who was still tugging on her shoes.

Brittany loved Cheerio camp. Every year she got to spend two whole weeks with the whole cheerleading squad. She spent two weeks dancing, cheering, and hanging around with the squad. This year though was going to be twice as awesome because she got to practice glee as well.

Once out of the dorm buildings, Brittany trotted to the field across a small street from the dorms. There was only one other Cheerio on the field. Brittany smiled though because it was her favorite Cheerio.

Santana let out a small smile at Brittany as she came walking up. Brittany had always been a morning person. Her best friend returned her smile, but magnified it a few thousand times. Santana gave into impulse and pulled Brittany into a hug.

She held Brittany there, until she saw a few other the other cheerleaders mope out of the building. The blonde was slightly confused at the sudden withdrawal, but when she saw the other Cheerios she understood. Santana had talked about keeping her reputation intact and having to work twice as hard to be a better head Cheerio than Quinn was. Now that Quinn was back on the squad Santana was freaked out a little bit so she quadrupled her efforts to be better than Quinn. She would not be dethroned.

By the time they trudged into lunch, all the Cheerios where thoroughly exhausted. Conditioning before breakfast was definitely not their favorite way to start the day, then the cheerleading coach they had for the came was almost a ten times meaner than Sue Sylvester, something which Sue, who was sitting in the bleachers watching, admired.

"C'mon," Santana told Brittany and Quinn while all the other girls went off to their dorms to nap. They all walked through the small campus and met up with the guys on the way.

"I'm so sore," Finn whined.

Puck looked at Santana who rolled her eyes, "We were doing suicides for an hour."

"Well Coach Crazy Bitch made us run five minutes before doing six hundred sit ups," Quinn retorted, "All before breakfast."

When they walked into the room where they were supposed to meet the rest of the gleeks, they found a similar set up to their choir room at McKinley. Chairs were seated on some platforms facing the piano. The other kids were already there as was Mr. Schue who was leaning on the piano.

He smiled, "Alright guys. Thanks for coming."

Some mumbled replies came from the athletes while they sunk into their chairs.

He frowned a little at their un-enthusiasm, but chalked it up to the blaring alarm at 6am. "Alright guys I was thinking some 'Cabaret' for a warm up."

Normally, Brittany would walk with a little pep in her step because that's just who she was, but tonight she trudged back up to her room following Quinn who was basically dead on her feet. They said goodbye to Santana who was staying on the floor above them a few seconds ago.

Instead of changing, Brittany and Quinn fell into their beds with their clothes still on and were almost out immediately, dreading the sound of the 6am alarm the next morning.

Six days into camp, Brittany was so tired she was starting to mix up her dances. During Cheerios practice, the cheerleading coach that was worse than Sue yelled at her. In fact the yelling was so harsh that, even Coach Sylvester told her to take it down a notch. Santana was about to strangle the bitch when Quinn took her hand and shook her head. Brittany got back in line trying to blink back tears.

When they got to glee, Santana took Brittany's hand for the first time all day. The blonde gave her a weak smile and sunk into the chair.

"Alright guys," Mr. Schue walked in, "Let's go over 'Don't Cry for Me Argentina' again."

Everyone took their places and Rachel started singing. A few beats into the song, Brittany mixed up the dances again and bumped into Rachel.

"What is going on?" Rachel demanded and stopped the song.

Santana jumped in and was ready to hit Rachel for yelling at Brittany. "Listen Rupaul," she stepped into Rachel's personal space, "You better back the fuck off."

"Hey," Quinn stepped between them, "We're all tired. You don't need to get all bitchy."

"Back off has-been," Santana pissed and looking for a fight.

"San," Brittany said with tears in her eyes, "It's okay."

"No it's not," Santana set her jaw.

Quinn's eyes narrowed, her old self was coming back with a venomous fury that almost matched Santana's. "Don't get mad at Rachel just because you didn't have the guts to stand up for Brittany earlier."

Santana shoved Quinn and got ready to attack. Puck managed to stop a lunge by grabbing Santana around the waist, but she elbowed him in the stomach so hard he fell to the ground. Mike and Matt jumped in but ended up on the floor with Puck a few seconds later. Rachel looked to Finn like he should do something, but he just stood there looking panicked.

"Santana!"

The head Cheerio froze with her fist in the air, aimed at Quinn who was the only person between her and Rachel. The color in Quinn's face was gone as she readied herself to be pummeled. Santana looked at the blonde that screamed her name. Brittany had tears streaming down her face, but she didn't look sad or even distraught. She looked angry. "That's enough!"

Santana dropped her hand. Although eighty percent of her life had been spent with and around Brittany she'd never seen her best friend that angry. In fact, the entire glee club, including Mr. Schue was staring at her dumbfounded.

However, Brittany hadn't planned her actions any farther than yelled at Santana to stop so just turned on her heel and walked out of practice.

"Brittany," Santana called and trotted after the blonde.

Quinn slowly turned around to look at Rachel, "You okay?"

The diva nodded, "I…um, thank you for standing up for me."

A rarely seen kind smile came from Quinn, "No problem. It didn't look like wonder boy was going to do anything." She jerked her head toward her ex-boyfriend.

Finn heard the biting remark and ducked his head, knowing he was going to get shit for it later. Mr. Schue helped Puck, Mike, and Matt up.

"How did Santana take down three guys by herself?" Artie asked from his safe spot in the corner.

Puck groaned as he stood and sat down again, "When Santana gets mad, like really mad, she gets like Hulk strong. I saw her beat up four hockey players that called Brittany stupid."

Mr. Schue looked at his watch and clapped his hands together, "Well it's been a long day. Why don't you guys go get some rest?"

No one argued with him and they all left, groaning and grumbling.

"Brittany," Santana finally caught up with Brittany outside the dorm building.

Brittany stopped walking and turned around to meet Santana's eyes. The brunette brought her hand up and wiped away some residual tears on her face. At the touch all of Brittany's anger disappeared.

"I'm sorry," Santana whispered, "I…completely overreacted. I'm just…tired and confused and sore."

"Confused?" Brittany asked as Santana pulled her to some benches by the entrance to the building.

Santana nodded, "I'll tell you about it later." She knew she was eventually going to have to tell Brittany, but first she was going to have to figure out what to say.

Brittany nodded in acceptance and rested her head on Santana's shoulder, "I'm tired San."

"Me too," Santana sighed and wrapped her arms around Brittany.

As soon as Quinn came by to tell them that Mr. Schue dismissed them early, they both went upstairs, into their own rooms and passed out cold..


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry the chapter is short, but the next one will be fun I promise.

P.S. Happy Birthday to Faberittana

Enjoy

* * *

At 6:03am on the field where the Cheerios met, Brittany sleepily walked to Santana who was laying in the middle of the grass, staring at the dark, star dotted sky.

Brittany smiled slightly and gently kicked Santana's shoe to get the girl's attention. When Santana looked up she let out a grin and held her hands up. Brittany easily pulled Santana to her feet. Santana used to momentum to propel herself in a surprise embrace with the blonde. Santana locked her arms around Brittany's next and sighed contently.

"Are you okay?" Brittany asked quietly.

Santana pulled away a few inches and let her hands slide to Brittany's hip, "Yeah, but um…are you mad at me for not say anything yesterday when Coach was yelling at you?"

The blonde smiled and shook her head, "It's okay."

"Are you sure?" Santana dropped her head and kicked at the ground, "Cause Quinn was right. I was mad at myself for not saying anything."

"It's okay," Brittany repeated, "I know you're worried about being captain and stuff. Don't worry about it."

Something in Brittany's eyes made Santana not entirely believe her. Santana narrowed her eyes as she focused on Brittany's eyes, "You're disappointed."

"I'm not," the blonde lied and looked away.

Santana sighed, "I'm sorry. I know I should have said something. I just saw Coach Sylvester looking at me and…I got scared. I'm sorry."

The fake smile on Brittany's face, started to fade and a frown took it's place. She looked down and nodded, "It's okay. Really. I know why you did it."

"That's shouldn't come before you," Santana sighed, close to tears. Normally something wouldn't cause her so much grief, but she had trouble sleeping last night and ended up laying in the middle of the field for almost an hour because of it. "I'm really, really sorry, B."

A genuine smile grew on Brittany's face. She knew Santana was really sorry and that there was no reason to hang onto the disappointment when Santana was beating herself up over it. She just nodded and kissed Santana's cheek to let her know she was forgiven.

Santana smiled and moved her hands up a little on Brittany. Then she frowned and felt around the other girl's sides. Brittany giggled and squirmed away because it tickled, but the frown on Santana's face remained, "Have you been eating Brittany?"

The blonde bit her lip. She didn't really remember the last time she ate, but she forgot stuff like that all the time. "I think so."

"You've lost a lot of weight."

Brittany smiled, proud of herself, "That's a good thing right?"

Santana shook her head, "It's dangerous, babe." She rested her hands on Brittany's sides again.

"But they don't give us a lot of food," Brittany put her hands on Santana's shoulders.

The head Cheerio made a mental note to make some phone calls during their breakfast break. "I'll take care of everything B. Don't worry about it."

Brittany smiled and nodded, "Thanks San."

Santana let her eyes wander from Brittany's smile to her eyes and then down to her lips. She unconsciously licked her own lips, knowing what she wanted to do and having to use all of her restraint not to.

Brittany knew that look in Santana's eyes. She knew exactly what Santana wanted to do, but she wasn't going to do it for her. If Santana wanted to kiss her, she had to make the first move. Brittany was ridiculously disappointed when Santana ended their midnight trysts. She loved the feel of Santana's hand and lips all over her body and if that's what Santana wanted again she was going to have to initiate it, although it wouldn't take much. Brittany had been waiting for Santana to be the smart one again and tell her she was wrong. The second that happened, Brittany would immediately be ready to do whatever Santana wanted.

Brittany didn't know much, but she did know Santana and it would only be a matter of days before Santana would cave. Maybe all she needed was a little shove in the right direction.

The blonde saw some movement at the door of the dorms. She disengaged from Santana out of habit and mentally scolded herself for doing so. However, she seized the opportunity to bend over and tie her shoe, giving Santana the greatest view anyone at McKinley High could ever ask for.

Santana couldn't help, but stare. She knew and loved Brittany's body better than anyone else. Santana heard people behind her and whipped her head away from Brittany, her cheeks hot with embarrassment that she almost got caught checking out Brittany. She was usually more subtle about it. She shook her head and steeled herself for the day ahead. Brittany smirked to herself and started humming one of the songs from glee, bouncing over to meet her teammates.

At breakfast time, Santana skipped it, giving Brittany her food and went back to her dorm. Brittany started to protest, but Santana told her that she'd see her during their cheer routine practice.

In her dorm, Santana sat on her bed and sent a mass text to the gleeks. Her first reply was from Kurt whose text relieved Santana. She kept getting texts from her fellow gleeks with all the same answer. She smiled knowing that they all loved Brittany and were willing to help her in any way possible.

Santana met Brittany as promised during routine practice. She managed to cover up the one mistake Brittany made during the practice, while feeling like she was going to pass out herself. When they were finally released to lunch, Santana audibly sighed and linked her pinkie with Brittany's, "C'mon I have a surprise."

Brittany grinned. She loved surprises.

Instead of following all the other Cheerios, Santana led Brittany and Quinn to the glee room. Quinn looked as excited as Brittany felt. Brittany was wondering what got the other two so happy.

About halfway to where they were going Brittany figured that they were going to the glee rehearsal room, but what she saw when she got there made her smile almost extend beyond her face.

The entire glee club, football players and all, were sitting around ten boxes of pizza. As soon as they realized Brittany was there, Mercedes handed her a piece of pizza on a paper plate with a smile, "Here ya go girl."

"Thank you," Brittany added and went with Santana and Quinn to sit around the pizza.

As they were eating and talking with their friends, Brittany laid her head on Santana's shoulder and whispered "Thank you," in her ear.

The close proximity caused Santana to get chills, but she smiled down at her best friend and kissed her forehead, "Anytime."


	4. Chapter 4

When everyone had their fill of the pizza, they all went their separate ways. Quinn, Brittany, and Santana seamlessly melted back into the group of Cheerios walking out to practice.

By the end of their second round of four hundred meters sprints, Santana was staying awake on pure willpower. She felt like if she blinked too long she'd collapse on the track.

"C'mon blondie pick up the pace!" Coach Vaughn, the coach from hell, yelled at Brittany. She was walking on thin ice with Santana because of the incident yesterday and now Vaughn was starting to stomp on it.

Santana was near the back of the pack, trying to get all the stragglers to pick up the pace. Brittany was at the front with one of the seniors who was also on the cross-country team. Santana would be proud as a parent watching their kid win the all-state hundred meter sprint had it not been for the most insane coach she'd ever come across yelled at Brittany to hurry up.

"What a bitch," one of the girls around Santana panted.

"Why does she keep picking on B?" another one asked.

Santana was wondering the same thing, but now was not the time to engage in some coach hating gossip. So she told them to shut the hell up and focus.

When Brittany was the first one finished, Vaughn just glared at her and patted the cross-country runner on the back. The blonde just shook her head and started stretching. She was used to being picked on before she was friends with Santana who scared everyone mean away. Usually it wouldn't bother her, but she'd been getting little sleep and sans the pizza lunch she had today, almost no food, leaving her feeling raw and emotional.

Brittany wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead and started walking to the water bottles on the sidelines with the Cheerio that finished right behind her.

"Hey!" Coach Vaughn yelled, "No one gets water until everyone is finished. You two take another lap!"

"Are you serious?" the other girl scoffed.

"Two laps!" Vaughn yelled back her brown ponytail swinging behind her head as she narrowed her eyes.

The other girl looked at Brittany who hopelessly shrugged and took off running.

Santana, not having heard what happened, watched Brittany and the other girl take off again. She looked at Vaughn, "Are we doing another lap?"

"They're doing two more," Vaughn shook her head, "The rest of you take a break."

"Why are they running again?"

Vaughn raised an eyebrow at Santana, "They were getting water before everyone was finished. Would you like to join them?"

Santana looked at the team behind her who were hungrily drinking the water from their individual WMHS water bottles. "Cheerios! Did you just drink before everyone was done?"

Some of them looked bewildered, but the older Cheerios stood because they knew where Santana was going with it.

"Two more laps ladies," Santana called and started running. She turned around and looked at Vaughn as she jogged backwards, "We're a team and we all follow the same rules." The way Santana said it was more of a growl. It was meant as a warning.

The rest of the team got up and followed her. Some with a groan while others understood that they were part of a team and Santana was right.

Coach Sylvester sat in the bleachers across the field and let out a small smirk. She looked down at her clipboard and made a note before standing up. She picked up her bullhorn and put it to her mouth. "Lopez! My office after practice!"

Santana looked in the direction of Sue and nodded to let her know she heard. She started to internally panic. Worst case she would be yanked out of her position as she just settled in, but it was worth it letting Vaughn know who was really running things.

However she was brought out of her thoughts by seeing the girl Brittany was running with fall to her hands and knees and empty the contents of her stomach onto the grass outside the track. Brittany stopped running to rub the girl's back and then help her back up.

The massive group of Cheerios running together caught up with them. It took a little longer than usual, but they all finished the two laps together.

Brittany gave a sympathetic look to Santana who was nervously tapping her fingers on her water bottle. The blonde walked over to Santana and sat next to her, "I'm sure it's just to tell you how awesome you are."

Santana chuckled at the comment. Brittany had succeeded in making Santana smile for a moment so she smiled back. Santana sighed, "Yeah right."

"Hit the showers," Vaughn said as she walked past the group of recovering Cheerios without a second look.

They all stood up and walked back to the dorms to change. Santana started the solo walk to the athletic administration building. She felt someone next to her and smiled when she saw Brittany.

"You don't have to come with me," Santana linked their pinkies and started swinging them.

Brittany shrugged, "I want to."

When they got to the office with the sign declaring "Sue Sylvester" taped to it, Santana dropped Brittany's hand and took a deep breath. When she knocked there was an almost immediate, "C'min." With one last look to Brittany, she stepped inside.

The blonde slid down the wall and sat on the cold tile floor, waiting for Santana.

"I saw what you did today," Sue leaned back in her chair behind her desk that was almost an exact replica of the one she had back at WMHS.

Santana clenched her jaw, waiting for a verbal whipping so she could get out of there and to Brittany and glee. Plus she was super tired and sitting in their chair with perfect posture was exhausting.

"You stood up to Coach Vaughn," Sue steepled her fingers across her chair and paused, "You stood up to her when she was unfair to your teammates."

At the use of 'unfair' Santana became confused. This was not the lashing she was expecting. So she nodded, urging her coach on.

"You defended your teammates," Sue stated, "And the girls listened to you. Even after that windbag ran you all ragged, the girls were willing to follow you around the track a few more times. That's what I look for in a head Cheerio. Good job Lopez."

"Thank you coach," Santana was having trouble holding back a smug smile.

Sue nodded, "Once again, I was right in picking a leader. I want to continue to make sure that whenever Carol Vaughn thinks she's in charge of the William McKinley High School Cheerios that someone is there to tell her otherwise." Sue dropped her arms and mumbled, "Nobody calls Sue Sylvester a second-rate, wannabe coach." She looked back up at Santana as if just realizing that she was still there. "Get out of here."

Santana stood and scampered out the door. When it closed behind her she looked around for Brittany and smiled when she found Brittany propped up against the wall, asleep.

"Britt," Santana knelt next to her and took the blonde's delicate face in her hands, "Babe, wake up."

She watched Brittany's long eyelashes flutter open. Her eyes were unfocused and blurry at first before they zeroed in on Santana's eyes.

"She wasn't mad," Santana told Brittany, still caressing the blonde's face, "She told me I was a good leader."

It took a minute for Brittany to register what Santana was saying, but when it was all processed she smiled, "That's great San."

Santana froze in her place. Her eyes searched Brittany's for any sign that the blonde wanted to kiss her as much as she wanted to kiss Brittany. She found that Brittany's eyes were veiled and still laced with exhaustion. So she put on a smile and pulled Brittany to her feet, "C'mon. We're late for glee."

Mr. Schue clapped his hands as he counted, "One, two three four five six seven eight." He watched them dance without the music or singing. "Fantastic job Brittany and Rachel." When the dance was done he had them all sit down, "I'm going to go grab the sheet music. I left it in my car."

A quiet balloon of noise started to come from the group. Puck started telling all the guys about how some kid got hit in the face with a football. Rachel turned in her chair and looked at the three Cheerios behind her, all half asleep. "Are you guys okay? I mean this camp has almost run all of us into the ground, but we can hear the cheerleading coach from inside the music room."

"Just tired," Brittany replied with her head on Santana's shoulder. She covered her mouth as she yawned.

Quinn curled up in her chair and rested her forehead on her knees, "That woman is insane. I can't feel me legs half the time."

"Coach Sylvester hates her," Santana rested her head on top of Brittany's.

Quinn agreed, "At practice Coach Sylvester said she was being too hard on us."

Rachel shook her head, "How are you guys doing it?"

"Prayer," Quinn closed her eyes.

Brittany answered with her eyes closed, "Sometimes I pinch myself to make sure I'm still awake."

"I don't need sleep," Santana stated as her eyes threatened to slide closed.

"Oh Quinn," Brittany opened her eyes to look at the other blonde, "You told me to remind you to do your laundry."

"Damn," Quinn sighed and picked up her head, "I knew I forgot to do something. I'm completely out of work out clothes."

"Didn't you bring other clothes?" Rachel asked, innocently.

"We're not allowed to wear anything other than our official Cheerios workout gear during camp," Quinn explained a little impatiently, "I brought other clothes, but we're not supposed to wear it while we're here."

"I'm out too," Santana mumbled in her state of half-sleep.

"Well," Rachel thought for a moment, "I can do your laundry after this practice is over."

Immediately all three sets of Cheerio eyes were on her. "You'd do that?" Brittany asked, quietly.

Rachel nodded, "I mean it would give me a great excuse to miss my Essentials of Ensemble class with the heinous instructor who is obsessed with Suessical the Musical."

"I, um, thanks Rachel," Quinn answered a little unsure of accepting the offer, but she didn't see what choice she had. Turning up in soiled clothes was unacceptable, but when she got back to her dorm at night all she wanted to do was sleep. "That would be great."

Santana was convinced there was a catch, but when Brittany agreed for both of them she didn't protest.

When Mr. Schue walked back in he surveyed his students. Brittany, Santana, and Quinn appeared to be asleep. Finn, Puck, Matt, and Mike didn't appear to be in any better condition. Kurt was massaging his argyle-socked foot, mumbling something about Stalin-esque dance teachers. Tina had her head on Artie's shoulder her eyes starting to droop. Mercedes was sipping on hot tea trying to sooth her overstressed vocal chords and Rachel was pinching the bridge of her nose.

He stood there for a moment, looking at the overworked, over stressed kids and made a decision. He put the sheet music on the piano and put his hands on his hips, "Alright guys. I left the music at my hotel so I'm going to cut practice this afternoon a little short. I'll see you all at our evening practice."

The ones who heard him got up and shuffled out the door. The ones who didn't just followed the ones who did.

Quinn laid on her bed and watched Rachel gather up hers and Brittany's laundry. "Why are you doing this?"

"We're a team more or less," Rachel offered, "And you guys are obviously too exhausted and starved to want to do much except sleep. I'm just helping out my teammates."

Quinn let out a tired smile, "Well thanks. Let me know next time you need your laundry done."

Rachel chuckled, "Okay."

"Thanks," Brittany grumbled from the top bunk and rolled over to go to sleep.

The former head Cheerio let herself fall asleep right after Rachel left.

Luckily Santana set her alarm for right before their next Cheerios practice because both blonde Cheerios completely forgot. She shook them both awake and they all sprinted out to the field just in time for Coach Sylvester to appear in front of the group.

After their afternoon practice, Quinn walked into her dorm with Brittany behind her. The dancer crawled up onto her bed and went to sleep while Quinn sat on her bed and stared at the floor until her door opened.

Rachel smiled as she walked in with a laundry basket under one arm, "All clean."

Quinn smiled back, "I really can't thank you enough. This helps so much."

"No problem," Rachel smirked and then teased, "It's better than having you stink up glee."

The Cheerio tossed a stray sock at Rachel with an indignant, but giggly, "I do not stink up glee."

Rachel laughed back and tossed the sock into the top drawer of Quinn's dresser.


	5. Chapter 5

That evening, Mr. Schue stood in front of the glee club, the Cheerios and football players almost passed out in their chairs. "I know you've all been working very hard so everyone has the day off tomorrow. I've spoken to all of your instructors and they've agreed that you deserve a day to have some fun. So I've used some of the leftover carwash money to get us all tickets to King's Island Amusement Park," he smiled at a round of cheers that were impressively enthusiastic for how tired everyone was. "So practice tonight is cancelled. I rented some DVDs and we're all going to relax before we leave tomorrow morning."

"Is Coach Tanaka okay with it?" Finn asked carefully.

Mr. Schue nodded, "He said it's okay as long as he can come and I ride the roller coasters with him."

Santana hesitantly asked, "What about Coach Sylvester?"

He gave her a sly smirk, "I don't see why Sue has to know." With that he led the way to one of the common areas in the dorms where a big screen TV sat in front of some couches and chairs.

The movie droned on, but most of the gleeks are busy enjoying themselves and their time off. Conversations popped up everywhere and the junk food runneth over. Santana was in a conversation with Rachel and Puck about sex because that's pretty much the only way to keep Puck in a conversation.

"I don't think anyone is really as sexually active as they say they are," Rachel stated and looked at Puck, "Especially guys."

"Hey, I got no need to lie," Puck smirked and looked at Santana, "Right?"

Santana rolled her eyes, "I know for a fact you didn't actually sleep with one of the Cheerios you said you did."

"Which one?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Santana jerked her head to the opposite side of the room. Puck and Rachel looked over to see Mercedes, Tina, Artie and Brittany listening to Kurt tell an animated story.

"Brittany?" he asked. Then he paused, obviously deep in thought, "We made out."

"Hasn't Brittany made out with everyone?" Rachel asked. Santana shot her a glare, which made her add, "She said it, not me."

"She hasn't made out with you," Puck pointed out to Rachel who looked dejected. Santana wasn't sure if Rachel was disappointed that Brittany had never even propositioned her or that Puck had to point it out like he did.

Santana interjected, "It doesn't matter. That's not what we were talking about anyway. She hasn't slept around as much as everyone thinks she has."

"Have you?" Puck asked pointedly, raising his eyebrows at Santana.

Brittany had been looking at Santana out of the corner of her eye all night. Finally when she saw Santana look her way, she yawned and stood up, "I'm tired. I'm going to bed guys," she told the group she was talking to, "I'll see you in the morning."

Everyone told her goodnight and she disappeared into the hallway where the dorm rooms were, but instead of going upstairs to her and Quinn's room, she went into Santana's room. Due to her head Cheerio status and the odd number of Cheerios, Santana had her own room. It looked just like every other room except that there was less stuff. Brittany easily slipped inside without turning the lights on and walked to the bed. She smiled and laid down on the bottom bunk that had Santana's sheets perfectly made on it. She hesitated to sit down, but when she did a wave of comfort washed over her and she shimmied under the covers, resting her head on Santana's pillow.

Santana covertly watched Brittany leave. She didn't want to leave right after her because there were already enough rumors going around about them. Finally she decided that she'd waited long enough and excused herself to go to her room. She left with every intention of getting her phone to text the blonde. If she was asleep, there would be no answer and the vibration of her phone wouldn't wake her up, but if she was still awake maybe she could convince Brittany to come downstairs so they could talk.

She realized that her jealousy and anger during the sex talk with Puck and Rachel couldn't be explained by friendship anymore. She sighed and pushed open her door. When she flipped on the light a groan surprised her. She looked around ready to pummel whoever snuck into her room, but when she saw Brittany bury her face in the pillow to keep the light out, she smiled. Santana reached behind her and locked the door. She figured that Brittany forgot which room was hers, but was glad that Brittany had passed out in her room. She needed some time alone with her best friend and camp was a terribly hard place to privacy; especially with Coach Sylvester's rule of no roommate swaps.

Santana turned the light back out and stripped out of her Cheerios uniform before she made her way to the bed. She carefully lay in the bed next to Brittany and slid her arms around the blonde dancer. Brittany snuggled into Santana and let out a content sigh. Santana pulled the blanket over both of them.

"Dulces sueños mi amor," Santana whispered and brushed Brittany's hair away from her face.

The blonde smiled into Santana's shoulder and finally allowed herself to drift off to sleep in the safe shelter of her best friend's embrace. She was definitely smarter than everyone thought she was.

* * *

The next chapter with be exponentially longer.

I've been working on another story (the working title is 'Run Santana Run') that is inspired by the song/video Rachel did for 'Run Joey Run', so look for that to come out in the entirety in the next couple days.

Hope everyone enjoys.


	6. Chapter 6

Santana awoke the next morning at six in the morning as per her usual routine. Except today, she wasn't jumping out of bed to get her ass in gear. She lazily stretched and lulled her head to the side. Her nose came into contact with a mass of blonde hair. She inhaled deeply, loving the smell of Brittany's shampoo/conditioner combo. She snuggled into Brittany, nuzzling her nose into the blonde's neck. She whispered, "love you," against Brittany's neck and then closed her eyes again.

At the lips on her neck, Brittany slowly started to wake up. She smiled when her eyes opened and the first thing she saw was Santana. "Good morning," Brittany grinned and let out a content sigh.

Santana smiled back, "Good morning sunshine."

Brittany rolled over and buried her face in the pillow. She almost squealed with joy at waking up with Santana by her side. It was almost the perfect way to wake up. Her plan worked. Santana just crawled into bed with her and went to sleep holding her.

"What time are we leaving?" Santana asked, propping her head up with her elbow and stroking Brittany's hair with her free hand.

Brittany turned her head to look at Santana and brought her fingers up to stroke Santana's side which was exposed from her tank top riding up, "Eight."

Santana waggled her eyebrows, "We have two hours to ourselves. In my private room."

The blonde knew what Santana was hinting at. She laid her head back down, retracted her hand and decided to play back, "We get to go back to sleep?"

Santana's face fell and she started pouting, "That's not what I meant." When Brittany peeked up from her pillow, Santana knew Brittany was playing, "And you know it. You little tease." She giggled and bend down, claimed Brittany's lips for the first time in months.

After their early morning romp, they got dressed and met the rest of the glee kids downstairs for breakfast in the choir room. Brittany was downright giddy. Santana not only kissed her for the first time in months, but they got to go all the way multiple times. The best part was that Santana initiated it. She kissed her first. Santana touched her first. It seemed like Brittany had gotten what she wanted. That was until Santana dropped Brittany's hand she'd been holding when a group of Cheerios walked past them.

Once they were gone, Santana tried to take Brittany's hand again, but the blonde pulled her hand out of Santana's reach. She didn't glare like Santana would have, but the momentary glance she gave Santana was enough to let the head Cheerio know she was upset.

At breakfast with the gleeks, Brittany remembered why Santana called off their physical relationship in the first place and suddenly she wasn't so hungry anymore. Everything had been going well and good, then Santana got upset with Brittany about showing affection in public, so she called it all off. Now Brittany was mad at Santana for not showing affection in public. To Brittany, it seemed like she started the whole cycle over again. At least they were at the good part.

Santana thoughtfully chewed her breakfast and didn't engage in any of the conversation. She stared at the table while she received curious glances from her fellow glee members. She didn't care. She was thinking about something important, more important than glee and Cheerios and school. So she needed to focus.

When they were getting on the bus to the amusement park, Brittany got on a few people before Santana, but she saved Santana a seat because they were still best friends no matter what. Santana offered her pinkie to Brittany hoping that the blonde would take it.

After a few seconds of contemplating, Brittany smiled and linked their pinkies. She couldn't resist Santana. She always knew that. So she sighed and resigned herself to be whatever Santana wanted her to be no matter how much it hurt.

When they got to the theme park, they never left each other's side. They rode all the roller coasters together, buying all the pictures of them with huge smiles, screaming and holding hands. Then they ate park food to their hearts' contentment and then played some of the midway games that lined the walkways.

As Brittany and Santana were walking around the darkening park, stuffed animals in tow they both received a text message. It was a mass text from Mr. Schue reading: Last ride guys. We gotta get back. Meet at the fountain in front.

Santana smiled, "C'mon we have to go on one last ride."

Brittany was mesmerized as Santana pulled her to a carousel that was lit up against the black sky. The way it twinkled and glowed was nothing short of magical.

They were the only ones on the ride when it took off. They rode the shiny wooden horses as the music played. Brittany giggled like a child and Santana filled up half of her phone's memory with pictures of the event. She knew Brittany loved carousels and had avoided this one all day so she could have a moment like this. A moment where Brittany was laughing until the lights of the ancient ride twinkled, her eyes sparkled and her skin glowed. Santana had to admit that it was definitely worth the wait.

When the ride was over, Santana took Brittany's hand and didn't care who saw. She had just seen the most beautiful sight in the world and there was nothing that was going to stop her from reveling in it.

All the way back, Brittany had her head on Santana's shoulder. The fun they had all day had completely exhausted them all, but in a good way. Everyone was all smiles on the bus ride back and when they got back to the camp everyone hugged goodbye. Santana walked Brittany to her room. The blonde looked tired but Santana wasn't really all that tired so at the door, she hugged Brittany and then went for a walk around the moonlit grounds.

Around midnight, Santana had come to a decision. She had been walking around the track for two hours before coming to this conclusion, but it wasn't one that could wait so she sent a text message and then walked two more laps.

By the time she was rounding the track for the second time, she saw the recipient of her text message standing at the edge of the track, looking quizzically and sleepily at her.


	7. Chapter 7

Santana grinned and wrapped Brittany in her arms. For the first time in months Santana felt at peace with herself and the world. She knew what she needed and she fully intended to let it be known. "I need you."

"Hmm?" Brittany asked, not understanding what she was talking about.

Santana decided to backtrack a little so she took Brittany's hand and they started walking around the track together. "I have a proposition."

The blonde was intrigued so she nodded to spur Santana on, all of her sleepiness forgotten.

"I really love being with you," Santana forced the words out, exposing her heart for the blonde to gently protect or smash into a million pieces, "I love kissing you and the sex is…amazing. I think we both know that. And I know that I'm really crazy about keeping this a secret, but I just…I don't want…have you seen they way Kurt gets treated at school? I don't want that to happen to you," Santana looked at the ground as she continued to talk, "I want to protect you, but I know I can't be there all the time. I just don't…I don't like for people to be mean to you and they're mean to Kurt because of who he is."

Brittany bit her lip and listened. What Santana was saying was making sense. More so than all the times before when she'd just tell Brittany they couldn't hold hands in public and that was that.

"But," Santana stopped walking and stood in front of Brittany, holding the blue eyes, "I want to stop sleeping around and dating guys that I don't care about because when I'm with them I only think about you and it makes me think of how many other guys have been with you and are taking you out on stupid dates that I want to take you out on."

"Are you saying you want us to date?" Brittany asked, trying to reign in her smile, but was not really winning.

Santana gave her a small smile and a smaller nod, "But we still have to keep it sort of a secret."

"Can I tell our glee friends?" Brittany asked carefully with a face construed in a deep thoughtful look.

The head Cheerio took a deep breath and nodded, "Sure."

The blonde started jumping up and down and threw her arms around Santana. Then she drew her in for a long, passionate kiss that was long overdue. Although Santana knew that if anyone was awake and looking out their window, they would be caught, but at this point Santana didn't care. She'd gone without Brittany for way too long.

Finally when Brittany pulled away, Santana grinned. She looked at the slight droop of Brittany's eyes and reached up to caress her face, "I'm sorry I woke you up for this. You're so tired. I've just…been out here all night thinking." She softly kissed Brittany again, "Let's go to bed."

They slept in Santana's room until the early morning wake up. They both got up and were the first ones outside on the field. Santana was having trouble keeping hands to herself as they lay in the grassy field under the stars.

Brittany closed her eyes as Santana absently stroked her thigh. The brunette probably didn't know what she was doing to the taller girl. So Brittany let out a raspy, "San," before Santana looked over and realized where her hand was.

"Sorry," Santana bit her lip in front of a sly smile. She rolled onto her side and kissed the curve of the blonde's neck.

Brittany moaned, "San, I…" Santana gently biting down on the skin stopped her train of thought. Brittany brought her hands to Santana's wrists to stop them from going any lower. If this got any farther, she would have to drag Santana into the woods so they could finish.

Santana got the hint and pulled away. She smoothed out the side-swept bangs that hung over Brittany's brow before adding, "Do you wanna go on a date tomorrow night when we get home?"

Brittany grinned and nodded, "Yeah."

"Good," Santana kissed her one last time as the door to the dorms opened and Quinn led the rest of the Cheerios out. "I'll take you home and then you can get dressed, then I'll pick you up."

"Let a real date?" Brittany's eyes lit up, matching the star-studded sky.

Santana grinned and stood up, offering her hands to Brittany. The blonde took them and Santana pulled her up. "It is a real date."

The blonde smiled and took a deep breath, hoping that this was everything she thought it was. Quinn walked over to them and yawned, resting her head on Brittany's shoulder. Brittany finally broke eye contact with Santana and looked at Quinn.

"I'm so tired," Quinn sighed, "Following Rachel around an amusement park is like following a five year old."

Brittany chuckled and smoothed out Quinn's hair.

Santana watched, jealous of the contact, but not saying anything because at the end of the day, Brittany was hers and that was all that mattered.


End file.
